A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Samwell, Peter
SAMWELL. (Retired Commander, 1841. f-p., 22; h-p., 35.)
Peter Samwell, born 8 May, 1775, is brother of the late Retired Commander Wm. Samwell, R.N.; and uncle of the present Lieut. Wm. Samwell, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 6 April, 1790, on board the Spider cutter, Lieut.-Commander Lanyon, stationed on the coast of Ireland and in the Channel. In 1791 he became in succession attached, as Midshipman, to the Cambridge 74 and St. George 98, flagships of Sir Rich. Bickerton at Plymouth; and he next, from Feb. 1793 until May, 1797, served, in the same capacity and as Master’s Mate, in the Captain 74, Capts. Sam. Reeve, Thos. Seccombe, John Smith, Stewart, and Ralph Willett Miller. In 1793-4 he served ashore at the occupation of Toulon, and cooperated in the reduction of Corsica, where he assisted in dragging guns up the hills and in erecting batteries. In 1795 he was present in Admiral Hotham’s two partial actions. On the first occasion, 14 March, the Captain was for an hour and 20 minutes in close action with Ça Ira 80 and Censeur 74, whose united broadsides killed and wounded several of her people, besides inflicting considerable damage on her hull, masts, and rigging. On the memorable 14 Feb. 1797, when Sir John Jervis defeated the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent, Mr. Samwell fought as Master’s Mate under the broad pendant of Commodore Nelson, and was one of those who with the hero boarded the San Nicolas 80 and San Josef 112. After serving for a few weeks with Sir John Jervis in the Ville de Paris 110, he was nominated, 16 June, 1797, Acting-Lieutenant of the Mutine 18, Capts. Thos. Masterman Hardy and Wm. Hoste; in which vessel, being confirmed to her by commission dated 6 Feb. 1798, he performed the duties of First-Lieutenant at the battle of the Nile. He continued to serve in her – participating intermediately in many cutting-out afiairs on the south coast of France – until July, 1801, where the effects of a severe hurt, received in the preceding year, obliged him to invalid. His last appointments were – in March, 1804, for five months to the Goliath 74, Capt. Chas. Brisbane, stationed in the Channel – 6 April, 1805, to the Sea Fencible service – and, in April, 1807, to the charge of a Signal-station in the island of Sheppy, where he remained (with the exception of an interval of 18 months in 1814-15) until 23 March, 1816. He became a Retired Commander on the Junior List 26 Nov. 1830; and on the Senior 9 June, 1841. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.